Setting: The time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a situation occurs. Include the background, atmosphere or environment in which characters live and move, and usually include physical characteristics of the surroundings. (http://www.uncp.edu)
Note: In drama the setting consists of simply the props, moveable furniture, backdrop scenery and implied location.
Example of setting: Wide Sargasso Sea:
C"Our garden was large and beautiful-as that garden in the Bible -- the tree of life grew there. But it had gone wild. The paths were overgrown and a smell of dead flowers mixed with a fresh living smell. Underneath the tree ferns, tall as forest tree ferns, the light was green. Orchids flourished out of reach, or for some reason not to be touched. One was sneaky looking, another like an otctapus with long thin brown tentacles bare of leaves hanging from a twisted root. Twice a large, the octapus orhicds flowered-- not an inch of tenctacle showed-- it was a bell dashed shaped. It was a mass of white, mauve, deep purples, wonderful to see. The scent was very sweet and strong. I never went near it." (19)
This is an example of the physical location of Antoinette's house used to broaden our comprehension of the setting in the novel. This location part of the setting helps the readers to understand the type of environment that Antoinette is exposed to.
Overgrown Garden
Example of setting:
"The Terrorisit, He's Watching"
By: Wislawa Szymborska:
"The bomb in the bar will explode at 13:20.
Now its just 13:16
There is still time for some to go
and some to come out"
...
"13:20 exactly.
This waiting, its taking forever
Any second now.
No, not yet.
Yes, now.
The bomb, it explodes."
This is an example of time being included as a part of the setting. In this poem the actual hours and minutes are calculated, and the storyline revolves around the counting down of time until the bomb goes off. The actual countdown adds to the atomosphere of suspense that Szymborska creates. For this particular poem, the time is expressed very precisely, however, in most poem and prose pieces, the time is expressed more vaguely.
The Bomb Example of setting: The Awakening:
By: Kate Chopin "The main building was called the "house" to distinguish it from the cottages. The cahttering and whistling birds were still at it. Two young girls, the Farival twins, were playing a duet from "Zampa" upon the piano. Madame Lebrun was bustling in and out giving orders in a high key to a yard boy whenever she got inside the house, and directions in a equally high voice to a dining room servant whenever she got inside." (6)
This is an example of the social surroundings as shown in the begining of the novel. It is used to describe the atmosphere and the movement of the other characters who are on vacation at Grand Isle. In this example, the setting and general sterotype of her surroundings in the United States, sets up the conflict of Edna also in this novel. So it can be said that setting relates to setting up and describing the surroundings and also impressions that characters may have. This is important for it means that setting can function to help allude to the theme and conflicts of characters throughout all works.
The Beach House Example of setting: Chronical of a Death Foretold
By: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"There were a lot of people at the dock in addition to the authorities and the schoolchildren, and everywhere one could see the crates of well-fattened roosters they were bearing as a gift for the bishop, because cocks-comb soup was his favorite dish. At the pier there was so much firewood piled up that it would have taken at least two hours to load. But the boat didn't stop. It appeared at the bend in the river, snorting like a dragon, and then the band of musicians started to play the bishop's anthem, and the cocks began to crow in their baskets and aroused all th other roosters in town." (17-18)
This example portrays setting in the forms of background / environment and atmosphere. The background is displayed as a small South America town with a very homey, undeveloped, and retro atmoshpere. The reader can picture many towns people standing by a dock, awaiting their bishop. As for the atmosphere, the reader can feel or sense an air of excitement and anxiousness. This event for which they are eagerly waiting seems somewhat like a luxury or a rarity.
The Old People's Home Example of setting: The Stranger
By: Albert Camus
"The old people's home is at Marengo, about eighty kilometers from Algiers, I'll take the two o'clock bus and get there in the afternoon. That way I can be there for vigil and come back tomorrow night." (3)
This quote taken from Albert Camus's The Stranger provides a very simple setting. In terms of setting, firstly, the quoted text provides a very general location, Algiers. Secondly, it provides a more specific setting; the town of Marengo. Lastly, the mentioning of the "old people's home" provide an implication of an even more specified setting that may occur later on in the novel.
SETTING
Setting: The time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a situation occurs. Include the background, atmosphere or environment in which characters live and move, and usually include physical characteristics of the surroundings. (http://www.uncp.edu)
Note: In drama the setting consists of simply the props, moveable furniture, backdrop scenery and implied location.
Example of setting:
Wide Sargasso Sea:
C"Our garden was large and beautiful-as that garden in the Bible -- the tree of life grew there. But it had gone wild. The paths were overgrown and a smell of dead flowers mixed with a fresh living smell. Underneath the tree ferns, tall as forest tree ferns, the light was green. Orchids flourished out of reach, or for some reason not to be touched. One was sneaky looking, another like an otctapus with long thin brown tentacles bare of leaves hanging from a twisted root. Twice a large, the octapus orhicds flowered-- not an inch of tenctacle showed-- it was a bell dashed shaped. It was a mass of white, mauve, deep purples, wonderful to see. The scent was very sweet and strong. I never went near it." (19)
This is an example of the physical location of Antoinette's house used to broaden our comprehension of the setting in the novel. This location part of the setting helps the readers to understand the type of environment that Antoinette is exposed to.
Overgrown Garden
Example of setting:
"The Terrorisit, He's Watching"
By: Wislawa Szymborska:
"The bomb in the bar will explode at 13:20.
Now its just 13:16
There is still time for some to go
and some to come out"
...
"13:20 exactly.
This waiting, its taking forever
Any second now.
No, not yet.
Yes, now.
The bomb, it explodes."
This is an example of time being included as a part of the setting. In this poem the actual hours and minutes are calculated, and the storyline revolves around the counting down of time until the bomb goes off. The actual countdown adds to the atomosphere of suspense that Szymborska creates. For this particular poem, the time is expressed very precisely, however, in most poem and prose pieces, the time is expressed more vaguely.
The Bomb
Example of setting:
The Awakening:
By: Kate Chopin
"The main building was called the "house" to distinguish it from the cottages. The cahttering and whistling birds were still at it. Two young girls, the Farival twins, were playing a duet from "Zampa" upon the piano. Madame Lebrun was bustling in and out giving orders in a high key to a yard boy whenever she got inside the house, and directions in a equally high voice to a dining room servant whenever she got inside." (6)
This is an example of the social surroundings as shown in the begining of the novel. It is used to describe the atmosphere and the movement of the other characters who are on vacation at Grand Isle. In this example, the setting and general sterotype of her surroundings in the United States, sets up the conflict of Edna also in this novel. So it can be said that setting relates to setting up and describing the surroundings and also impressions that characters may have. This is important for it means that setting can function to help allude to the theme and conflicts of characters throughout all works.
The Beach House
Example of setting:
Chronical of a Death Foretold
By: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"There were a lot of people at the dock in addition to the authorities and the schoolchildren, and everywhere one could see the crates of well-fattened roosters they were bearing as a gift for the bishop, because cocks-comb soup was his favorite dish. At the pier there was so much firewood piled up that it would have taken at least two hours to load. But the boat didn't stop. It appeared at the bend in the river, snorting like a dragon, and then the band of musicians started to play the bishop's anthem, and the cocks began to crow in their baskets and aroused all th other roosters in town." (17-18)
This example portrays setting in the forms of background / environment and atmosphere. The background is displayed as a small South America town with a very homey, undeveloped, and retro atmoshpere. The reader can picture many towns people standing by a dock, awaiting their bishop. As for the atmosphere, the reader can feel or sense an air of excitement and anxiousness. This event for which they are eagerly waiting seems somewhat like a luxury or a rarity.
The Old People's Home
Example of setting:
The Stranger
By: Albert Camus
"The old people's home is at Marengo, about eighty kilometers from Algiers, I'll take the two o'clock bus and get there in the afternoon. That way I can be there for vigil and come back tomorrow night." (3)
This quote taken from Albert Camus's The Stranger provides a very simple setting. In terms of setting, firstly, the quoted text provides a very general location, Algiers. Secondly, it provides a more specific setting; the town of Marengo. Lastly, the mentioning of the "old people's home" provide an implication of an even more specified setting that may occur later on in the novel.
The Dock